Hilda's Shrine

A small, ruined stone temple sits at the front of a long, mirror-like lake. The lake and temple tend to vanish and reappear somewhere else. They're always found shrouded in fog, light, or some other mirage-like distortion. Many who come across the shrine are sure it is merely an illusion or a spell. Some swear they found a beautiful woman there, which only serves to heighten the disbelief in its existence.

"Precisely. The elements, however, are too similar. Circular. Points on the same plane. They share lines with each other, chords to the greater arc. Only light and shadow oppose. The rest dance too intricately with each other."

"As with everything, no one is wholly correct. The question of " what is life?" and how to differentiate differing states of life, life-postmortem, and what has been termed undeath are difficult to answer because they are involved heavily with opinion."

_________________"Don’t do what you can’t undo, until you’ve considered what you can’t do once you’ve done it.”

Heinrich's icy blue eyes hold a strange sort of understanding. He nods once. "You have my condolences, madam." His voice has subtly altered in a way that, though his words are still formal, these have weight behind them that the others lacked.

_________________"Don’t do what you can’t undo, until you’ve considered what you can’t do once you’ve done it.”

Heinrich nods. "I lost my father when I was young, and a close confidant and friend before that. My mother turned it into my first lesson in necromancy. She forced me to raise him from the dead, with the excuse that "Your emotions cannot get in the way of your Art, Heinrich." Afterwards, she was astounded that not only did I allow him the dignity of keeping his name, I refused to allow him to deteriorate. It created a rift."

He seems to be lost in a memory, before snapping back to the present. "My apologies."

_________________"Don’t do what you can’t undo, until you’ve considered what you can’t do once you’ve done it.”

"The magic itself appears to have no prejudices to where it manifests. It can be predicted through bloodline, but never by complete certainty. For instance, of three children of the same coupling, only I exhibited the natural gift."

_________________"Don’t do what you can’t undo, until you’ve considered what you can’t do once you’ve done it.”

Hilda sniffs. "The odds of elemental magic passing down are far higher. One needs only possess one elemental proficiency to pass down any of them all. They pass down obliquely fairly easily, as well. Even those born to mundane parents have decent chances of gaining magic by birth."

Heinrich nods. "As a student I was rather crass towards anyone who possessed a gift in a " lesser" discipline. A behavior completely unfitting to my own pedigree. A third-generation aeromancer named Miranda eventually got a bit... Offended, and gave me a particular lesson in what she refers to as "papercuts", which turned out to be incredibly small cuts from aero conjurations."

_________________"Don’t do what you can’t undo, until you’ve considered what you can’t do once you’ve done it.”